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METRO VANCOUVER -- The B.C. government has spent about $700,000 on new wildlife fencing designed to keep deer off Highway 17, the new South Fraser Perimeter Road, where it passes Burns Bog in Delta. At last count, at least 71 black-tailed deer have been killed on the highway.

The 2.5-metre-high fencing is similar to the type installed along the Coquihalla Highway and includes one-way gates through which deer that find themselves on the highway can, in theory, pass through into the bog and away from traffic. Deer are at risk when they feed on grass near and alongside the highway.

The Vancouver Sun published a story in January 2014 that revealed at least 10 deer had been killed in collisions with vehicles in the month following the opening of the $1.3-billion four-lane highway connecting South Delta to Highway 1 at 176th Street in Surrey.

Sonia Lowe, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, said Thursday about six kilometres of fencing has been built mainly on the south side of the highway between Highway 99 and Highway 91. The province continues to monitor wildlife patterns, tracking the number and location of animals killed, and “will consider further mitigation measures if deemed necessary,” she said.

Lowe said the highway project committed more than $100 million to environmental and agricultural work, including the construction of numerous environmental areas, fish habitats and wildlife crossings such as culverts. The province is committed to monitoring the highway’s impact on wildlife for five years.

Construction of the 40-kilometre Highway 17 gobbled up about 90 hectares of some of the best farmland in Canada.

Burns Bog Ecological Conservancy Area, at almost 2,500 hectares, is one of the largest urban protected areas in the world — six times the size of Stanley Park, and home to a bounty of wildlife including deer and coyotes.

The Coquihalla Highway, opened in 1986, was the province’s first major transportation route in B.C. to incorporate wildlife collision prevention infrastructure.

Some $18 million was spent on 287 kilometres of fencing and tunnels, as well as one wildlife overpass about six kilometres west of Peachland on the Okanagan Connector.

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